40.
Carex
cephalophora
Muhlenberg ex Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 4(1): 220. 1805.
Carex porte-tête
Plants without conspicuous rhizomes. Culms 20—60 cm, 2—3.5 mm wide basally, 0.5—1 mm wide distally. Leaves: sheaths tight, green, rarely white spotted, fronts hyaline, slightly thickened at mouth; ligules to 5 mm, longer than wide; widest leaf blades (1.9—)2.5—5 mm wide. Inflorescences forming dense heads, with 3—8 spikes, 0.6—2 cm × 5—10 mm; proximal bracts 1—5 cm; spikes with 4—20 ascending to spreading perigynia. Pistillate scales hyaline with green midvein, ovate, 1—1.8 × 0.8—1.4 mm, body not more than 1/2 length of perigynium, apex acuminate to short-awned. Anthers 0.7—1.3 mm. Perigynia pale green to pale yellow, veinless or to weakly 8-veined abaxially, 2.5—3.2 × 1.4—2 mm, body elliptic to circular, widest at 0.4—0.55 length of body, margins serrulate distally; beak 0.7—1.1 mm, apical teeth 0.3—0.5 mm. Achenes circular, 1 × 1 mm. 2n = 48.
Fruiting late spring—early summer. Dry to wet-mesic deciduous or mixed forests, thickets, rarely open grassy habitats; 50—500 m; Ont., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Mass., Md., Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.
The record of Carex cephalophora from California is referable to C. mesochorea.
